Cleat for football shoe



April 9, 1957 F. c. PHILLIPS CLEAT FOR FOOTBALL SHOE Filed Jan. -4, 1.957

United I States Patent CLEAT FOR FOOTBALL SHOE Fred C. Phillips, Stonghton, Mass.

Application January 4, 1957, Serlnl No. 632,456

2 Claims. (CI. 36-59) This invention relates to cleats for football shoes. Such cleats are usually subjected to severe usage as football is a strenuous game. It is an object of the invention to provide an improved cleat which can easily and cheaply be made, which is strong and rugged, which wears well, and which can be easily mounted on the sole of a football shoe or the like.

Modern football shoe cleats are customarily frustoconical in shape and are attached to the shoe by means of a threaded shank which projects either from the sole of the shoe to engage in a threaded bore in the cleat, or from the cleat to engage in a threaded socket on the sole of the shoe. For quick and easy attaching cleats to a shoe and detaching them therefrom, it is desirable that the mutually engaging threaded elements be of metal. For lightness of weight, the body of the cleat is preferably of fighter material which, however, must be strong and tough. Suitable for this purpose are such materials as hard rubber and nylon, for example. Cleats of such materials are apt to wear and chip at the small end. To prolong the useful life of the cleat, a hardened metal tip is provided at the extremity thereof. According to the invention the tip and threaded element are made in one piece as hereinafter described.

For a more complete understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following description thereof, and to the drawing of which-- Figure 1 is a sectional view of the plastic element of a cleat embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the metal element of the cleat;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the complete cleat mounted on a shoe sole;

Figure 4 is a perspective view, on a larger scale, of the metal element shown in Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a plan view of the mounted cleat shown in Figure 3.

The cleat illustrated on the drawing consists of two members-a molded plastic member of nylon or the like, and a metal core member 12.

The nylon member is frusto-conical in shape, with a flange 14 at its larger end. The flange is preferably non-round in contour, a hexagonal shape being indicated in Figure 5, to facilitate the use of a simple tool such as a wrench to tighten the cleat on a threaded stem and to unscrew it from the stem.

' Extending through the member 10 from the smaller endutheteofisaeentmlcylindricalborefiwhich 2,787,843 Patented Apr. 9, 1957 widens progressively near the larger end so that it has a portion 18 of much larger diameter at the larger end.

The member 12 is preferably of hardened steel for durability. This member is cylindrical for most of its length, the outside diameter of the cylinder being equal to or very slightly greater than the diameter of the bore 16 so that it has a snug fit or drive fit in the nylon member. The member 12 has a disk-like head or tip 20 having a diameter substantially equal to that of the small end 15 of the member 10 so that it fits against this end and protects it from abrasion and chipping. The end face 22 of the tip may be slightly rounded or conical as indicated in Figures 2 and 3.

The member 12 is provided with a central bore 24 which extends in from the end opposite the tip 20 but stops short of the tip as indicated in Figure 3. Part or all of this bore is screw-threaded for threaded engagement with a threaded stem 26 mounted on the bottom of the shoe sole 30 to project therefrom.

Figure 3 shows a representative structure comprising an outsole 30, an insole 32, a steel plate 34 between these soles, and a socket or base 36 secured to the plate 34. The threaded stem 26 is permanently secured to the base 36 and may, if preferred, be made integral therewith.

To avoid any possibility of the nylon member 10 turning on the metal core 12 when the cleat is being screwed on or off a stem 26 by the use of a wrench, the core 12 is provided with a series'of ridges 40 which extend longitudinally of the core and project radially therefrom, forming a sort of knurling which can be driven or pressed into the bore of the nylon member 10. The ridges 40 press the adjacent nylon outward to form interlocking ridges in the wall of the bore 16. This effectively prevents any possible relative rotation between the two members.

In making the cleat, the plastic body 10 may be molded about the metal core, or the plastic body may be molded by itself; then the core is forced into the bore 16 until tip 20 bears against the end face 15 of the plastic body.

I claim:

1. A football shoe cleat comprising a frusto-conical nylon member having a central bore therethrough, and a metal member fitted within said bore, said metal member having at one end a disc-like tip engaging the end face of the nylon member and of substantially the same diameter as said end face, said metal member having a threaded bore extending in from its other end but stopping short of said tip, said metal member also having longitudinal ridges projecting radially outward from its outer surface and indenting the walls of the bore in the nylon member.

2. A football shoe cleat comprising a frusto-conical nylon member having a non-round flange at its larger end and a central cylindrical bore extending therethrough from the smaller end with an enlarged diameter at the larger end, and a metal member fitted in the cylindrical bore, said metal member having a disc-like tip bearing against the smaller end of the nylon member and longitudinally extending ridges projecting radially outward therefrom and indenting the walls of the bore of said nylon member, said metal member having a threaded bore extending in from the end opposite said tip.

'No references cited. 

